Rental Guidelines

Extensions of Rental

When your contract is opened, we will ask you the expected return date and time. Once you leave our facility we ask that you contact us if the return date or time needs to be extended. Only the renter is allowed to extend an open contract. All extensions must be done at our office location where the car was initially picked up from. Failure to extend or open up a new contract will void your insurance coverage and billing is now done on an hourly rate of $7.00 until vehicle is returned.

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Our Rates and How We Charge

Mashariki Rent-A-Car rates may vary depending on season of the year. Our rates are determined by supply, demand and market conditions. Rates quoted are only guaranteed at the time they are quoted. Our suggestion is to always make your plans early to take advantage of the best possible rate we can offer.

Mashariki Rent-A-Car's daily charges are on a 24 hour clock. Example: If you rent the vehicle at 10:00 a.m. on a Monday and return at 10:00 a.m. the next day, which would be Tuesday, this would be considered a one day charge.

Renters are given a 59-minute grace period to return. After such time the renter would be charged an hourly rate for each hour. All items charged for by Mashariki Rent-A-Car on a 24 hour basis include but are not limited to daily rates, collision coverage, supplemental liability coverage, personal accident coverage, underage renter fee, additional renter fee, etc.

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Taxes and Insurance matters.

Renters’ must be aware that car renters in Washington State are charged two forms of Taxes irrespective of which company you go to.

You will be charged:

Washington State Renters’ Tax = 7.70%  King county
Washington State Sales Tax     =  9.50% King county 

 TOTAL COMBINED TAX        = 17.20%  

Note: It is illegal to EVADE taxes and we do not allow or encourage it.

See tax application in example below:

F.Y.I

INSURANCE TERMS :  Waivers (LDW/CDW) and purchased insurance (SLi).

This information is just for your reading. We currently do not offer this insurance packages.

LDW / CDW - This stands for "Loss Damage Waiver" or "Collision Damage Waiver".

When for instance your rental car gets stolen or damaged then the LDW will cover the costs. It is extremely highly recommended (when without full coverage insurance) since it shields you from being potentially liable to the car rental company for any costs up to the full value of the rental car, even if something happens to it which is not your fault.

SLi - This stands for "Supplemental Liability". This is excess automobile liability coverage that protects you and all
authorized drivers of the rental vehicle against third-party bodily injury and property-damage claims. This is equivalent to your own auto personal “Liability” insurance” but the limits covered are higher. (Usually up to 1 million). So if you rear end someone’s car and you had purchased SLi, this will repair the damage that you cause.

The following conditions must be met before we consider renting a car to you.

• Valid driver’s license. (Not cancelled, revoked or restricted in any way)

• Must be 21 years or older.

• Must have VISA/MASTER/AMEX/DISCOVER credit card. (We only accept credit card payments)

• Have personal insurance. (Liability or Full coverage) If you do not have any form of personal insurance then you may consider purchased insurance.

The illustration below shows you how we calculate you rental bill. This information is sufficient enough to let you know beforehand how much you will spend based on the number of days you need the rental car.

Here’s an illustration of how it works:

Tax Application Illustration

Smith wants to rent an economy class car from us for 5 days at a daily rental rate of $20.00 per day.

Smith owns a personal car that has Full Coverage insurance. When smith comes to our office he needs to bring with him his insurance card so that we can call his insurance company to verify if his policy is still active or cancelled. If the cover is still active we will establish whether it will cover all third party damage that Smith may cause as well as fix all damage to the rental car as well. If coverage is approved then Smith will only pay the base rent for the rental period he wants the car plus all applicable taxes which amount to 17.20%   (This tax is a combination of Washington State Sales Tax 9.50% and Washington State Renter’s tax of 7.70%). This tax is standard in Washington State (King County) irrespective of the company you rent from. It is the law.

Therefore Smith’s bill would be as follows:

5 days rental at $20.00/day   5 days x $20.00  = $100.00

WA. State Sales Tax             9.50% x $100.00   = $ 9.50

WA State Renter’s Tax          7.70% x $100.00   = $ 7.70

Smith’s GRAND Total bill will be               = $117.20

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Refueling Options

All vehicles at Mashariki Rent-A-Car are rented with a full tank of fuel. It is MANDATORY to return the vehicle the same way as you took it. If we gas it up for you it will cost you more per gallon for the amount of gasoline it will take. If we gas the car for you it will cost you $6.00 per gallon and put the charges on your credit card. It is always a smart thing to gas up before returning not only Mashariki vehicles but any rental vehicle in general since other rental companies charge up to $9.00 a gallon if they fill it up for you.

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Additional Equipment for Rent

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Rental Contract Violations

Contract violations include, but are not limited to:

1. Driving under the influence of intoxicants or other drugs.
2. Operation of the vehicle by an unauthorized driver.
3. Driving the vehicle out of State, country or geographic limitations indicated in the rental agreement without the written permission of Mashariki Rent-A-Car.
4. Using our vehicle for off road driving, driving on unpaved roads or street racing resulting in damage.
5. Failure to return rental vehicle by the due back date and time.
6. Failure to pay all additional charges listed on contract at time of return.
7. Using Mashariki vehicles to haul illegal drugs, weapons harzardous material or used in theft or commit any crime.
8. General abuse of vehicle leading to unwarranted breakdown or destruction.
9. Renting a Mashariki car for driving lessons or driving exam purposes. Insurance will not cover that.
10. Hit and Run. This is is a serious violation. You are required to call 911 during an accident.
11. Obtaining the rental vehicle by giving us false, fraudulent or misleading information or using ID theft documentation. We are duty bound to immediately report such ocurrences to law enforcement authorities.
12. Using the vehicle to carry persons for hire, pushing or towing anything, speed tests or teaching anyone how to drive.
13. Using the vehicle to transport more persons that the Vehicle has seatbelts, carrying persons outside the passenger compartment or transporting children without approved child safety seats as required by law.
14. Tampering with vehicle odometer or has been disconnected.
15. Driving vehicle with inadequately secured cargo. It is now passed Law that you must secure your cargo in any vehicle you drive in Washington State otherwise you will be ticketed by the police.

16. Terminating, cancelling or negligently allowing your personal car insurance policy to expire or lapse by failing to pay your insurance premiums when due (or whatever reason) while the rental vehicle is still in your possession under contractual agreement. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A MAJOR CONTRACT VIOLATION. It is your RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that your insurance policy is current while driving any vehicle from Mashariki rent a Car otherwise you will be held responsible 100% for total damages to rental car and third party damages in the event of an accident.

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Renters Responsibilities

1. Renters are responsible for all damages to the rental vehicle and any third party claims for liability while under a vehicle rental contract.
2. Renters are responsible for returning the vehicle at the designated date and time shown on the rental agreement. It is the responsibility of the renter to contact Mashariki Rent-A-Car to extend a contract and to pay additional deposits needed to extend the contract.
3. It is the renters responsibility to understand what they are initialing on the rental contract. Our customer service agents are trained to explain each line item to their customer prior to having the customer inital the contract.

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Parking Tickets

The renter is responsible for paying for any and all parking tickets received while the vehicle is on contract. Please present the parking ticket at time of return to our customer service agent. We will be glad to add the parking charge onto your contract and will forward payment to the proper authorities. If the parking ticket is not paid for at time of return Mashariki Rent-A-Car will forward all invoices for parking tickets to the customer for payment.

Private Parking.

If you park in someone else's private/reserved parking spot without permission they will call the towing truck company that services that area to have the vehicle towed. It is very expensive to recover the car since the towing and storage charges depend on where the vehicle is towed from and to and can easily be in excess on $400.00  You have been warned before hand that you are responsible for such charges arising due to negligently parking a rental vehicle. Such private parking spots are found in sheltered or numbered parking spots in apartment complexes, outside someone's private house/street parking or any clearly marked parking that states it has been reserved.

City Meter Parking.

If you park in city metered parking spots you must pay for the time you intend to leave the car there. Make sure you leave the time ticket on the dashboard clearly visible to the parking attendants who constantly go checking. If your time expires and fail to add money promptly (or never left ticket on car dashboard) the parking attendants will issue you with a parking ticket which is usually $35.00-$45.00 If you fail to pay the ticket as per the deadline specified it doubles and goes to collection services. You are required to inform us of such tickets so that we can put them on your credit card and we will then forward the payment to the right authority.  If you fail to notify us of such a ticket it will finally be sent to us and we will go ahead and charge it to your credit card on file and we will send you a copy of the ticket as well as payment receipt in the mail for your record. It is a matter of clear judgment as to where you park the rental vehicle.

Bridge Tolls.

You are required to pay all bridge tolls when crossing bridges that require you to pay them such as the "TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE". DO NOT USE THE EXPRESS LANE IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE PREPAID ELECTRONIC PASS OTHERWISE YOU WILL BE ISSUED WITH A CAMERA TICKET.

Disabled parking spots.

The same case applies to disabled parking spots. This is one of the most expensive parking tickets you can ever get in Washington state and worst of all it goes to your DRIVING RECORD which is periodically viewed by insurances to determine if your premiums are going to be increased. Our vehicles are registered in our business name (hence no driving record) and therefore all we need to do is to fill out a special form with your driving license details and send it back to the courts so that they can put the ticket in your name if you were the renter of the vehicle at the time the ticket was issued. Do not park our rental vehicle in a disabled parking spot unless you have a disabled permit clearly displayed inside the vehicle.

Jumping red lights - Camera tickets.

Jumping red lights is a costly thing to do in Washington state. As you may have noticed many traffic lights are now equipped with cameras. When you jump a red light the camera will take a snap shot of the vehicle in the actual act with a close up of the vehicle license plate clearly visible. They will mail a copy of the picture and ticket which costs $101.00 depending on which city you are driving in. All we do is to fill out a special court form that clearly exonerates us from the ticket. The court will now process the ticket in your name and send it to your address for payment. The good thing is that these camera tickets do not go to your driving record. The bad thing is that it's an extra charge you will have to pay for on top of your rental bill yet it can be avoided by paying extra attention while on the road. Remember that besides insurance reasons this is another reason why we collect your driver license details at the time of making your reservation.

In a nutshell towing, storage and parking tickets will cost you more money than you intended to spend so park wisely !

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Accidents

In the event of an accident always call the police at 911. Do not admit liability. Make sure the Police Officer writes a police report and get a copy of it to bring to out office. Also get the driver's License for all vehicles involved, license plates of all vehicles and insurance policy information. Our vehicles have writing materials and pens stored in the glove compartment. Read more here !

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Age Requirements

• Minimum Age: 21. We do NOT charge under-age fees like the big rental companies. Mashariki Rent a Car is an 'under 25' friendly car rental company.

• Renters must have Liability insurance or Full Coverage that will transfer to the rented vehicle. This coverage must be verified by one of our customer service agents prior to making a reservation.

• It is always a good idea to call your insurance company and let them know that you intend to rent a car on the strength of your own insurance and to verify if your type of policy covers you against accident liabilities.

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Additional Drivers

• Additional renter’s driver's license must be presented at time of rental. No additional renter may be added to a contract over the telephone.

• Photo copy or fax copy of a driver's license will NOT be accepted. Fee for each additional driver is $5.00 per day but free for legally married cuoples.
• Additional renters must also be 21 years of age and above with a valid driver's license and meet the same basic requirements of primary renter.
• Please note carefully that if an UNAUTHORIZED person drives a Mashariki rental car then you violate your rental agreement significantly. An unauthorized driver is someone who is not legally listed on the contract as an additional driver at the time of signing it.

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Valid Driver’s License

We will NOT rent a car to you if your driver’s License has been Suspended, Revoked or cancelled for whatever reason. Most of such licenses will have a hole punched on them. Our primary goal is to ensure you are on the road legally.

We DO NOT rent cars to drivers who hold Provisional Driving Licenses neither do we rent vehicles for driving exam purposes.

We may do a driver license check at the time of making a reservation to verify validity. Your signature on the Rental Contract is also acceptance that you acknowledge that your Driver’s License is valid at the time signing the rental contract. This way we are held harmless and you are legally responsible for any outcome for driving without a valid driver’s license.

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Driving Area Restrictions

Our unlimited mileage rates are offered for travel within Washington State, Portland Oregon, Victoria and Vancouver BC and within a radius of less than 300 miles from our Kent office. If you drive beyond allowed limits and the vehicle breaks down then the renter is responsible for towing charges for miles over the allowed distance limit of 300 miles. Always Confirm with your insurance carrier on the extent of your coverage for destinations listed.

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Insurance Requirements

We at Mashariki Rent-A-Car encourage you to contact your insurance carrier and inquire if your personal policy will cover you in a rental vehicle. Make sure you inform your agent the type of vehicle you will be renting and how long you will be renting. It makes a difference. Know what you need before you arrive. It is a STRICT requirement that Renters must have personal Full Coverage or Liability insurance in their own name that will transfer to the rental vehicle. This coverage must be verified by one of our customer service agents prior to making a reservation. This is to make sure your policy is not lapsed or expired. It is prohibited to rent our vehicles for someone else by using your personal credentials. Only drivers listed on the rental contract are authorised to drive or handle the rental car at all times.

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Credit Card Collision Coverage

Many credit card companies offer collision coverage benefits with their card. As in many types of coverage there are limitations. The length of the rental, purpose of the rental and the vehicle being rented would determine your coverage. Again we suggest that you never assume and encourage you to call the 800 number on your credit card to verify your coverage before you pick any rental car.

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Winter Driving

Special caution needs to be observed during winter season. Renters' need to be aware that all Mashariki vehicles are NOT equiped with snow tires or tire chains neither do we provide them. It is upon the renter to make sound judgement as to whether the roads are drivable or not. For your own safety (and others too) it is best to keep off the roads if they are too slippery to drive.

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Insurance Deducible

Everybody who has personal insurance (liability or full coverage) has a "deductible" of a certain amount. It could be either $250, $500, or $1000. The policy owner (NOT the insurance company) is the one who makes the choice of which deductible they want on their policy. But what really is a deductible and what do these numbers mean?

What is a deductible?

The deductible is the amount you must pay toward a claim before your insurance begins to pay when using your policy to settle the claim. The deductible is chosen by the insured (policy owner) and is usually applied to coverage's such as comprehensive and collision. For example, if you have a $2000 claim and your policy has a $500 deductible, you will pay $500 and your insurance will pay $1500. Selecting higher deductibles is one way to reduce your premiums. Of course, you must decide whether the monthly savings are worth the risk of paying more in the event of an accident.

Practically speaking a person who has a $250 deductible pays much more insurance premium per month than a person having $1000 deductible but in the event of an accident where the deductible applies then you can see who pays more.

ALWAYS remember to select a deductible you are comfortable paying in the event of a claim that requires you to pay it. Having high deductibles (e.g. $1000) would make your premiums pretty cheap but you are liable for the first $1000 toward the total cost of damage to a rented car or even your personal vehicle. So if the damage is $900 then you pay full amount out of pocket since it is less than the deductible.

ALWAYS ask your insurance agent when your deductible applies before you rent a vehicle or even when fixing your personal car with your insurance.

Having auto insurance is one thing....knowing what it covers is another !

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